Dubbed the ‘finest old tavern in America’, Gadsby’s was a fabulous survivor from pre-industrial times. It had been a tavern since at least 1785, and by the end of the eighteenth century had been developed into a successful hotel by English entrepreneur John Gadsby. During a colourful history, it had played host to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. It had also played host to Toby Ashe. Ashe had been invited by Washington’s Alexandria Masonic Lodge No. 22 to address their annual St John the Baptist Festival some years previously. Happy memories of that occasion encouraged Ashe to suggest it as a suitable venue for his first meeting with Lee Kellner. A Mason himself, Kellner agreed to the location with alacrity.
The sight of two conspicuous limousines and a pair of obvious secret service operatives outside the tavern brought a smile to Ashe’s face. In America, it seemed, even the secret service relied on advertising. Recognising Ashe, the agents checked his ID and led him inside, across the polished white-oak floor of the old-time downstairs bar and restaurant to a private conference room upstairs. The candlelit dining room had hardly altered since 1814, when, across town, a British army had burned down Washington’s White House and Capitol in retaliation for US support of Bonaparte and a planned invasion of Canada. How times had changed!
Kellner and Beck rose, smiling, from their seats round the antique table as a well-frisked Ashe was shown in by the two alert agents guarding the room and corridor.
‘Welcome to Washington, Dr Ashe! I must say I admire your taste. Good of you to get me and Agent Beck here out of Langley. Care for a snack? Beck and I just ordered a Chesapeake Bay crab-cake sandwich.’
Ashe observed the bottle of Rapidan River Merlot on the table.
‘A glass of the local vino will do very nicely, thank you.’
‘Not eating?’
‘Prefer to eat after the meeting. I was hoping you’d join me at the hotel.’
Kellner looked at Beck. ‘Cancel the sandwiches.’
In spite of the rumble in Beck’s stomach, the meeting got off to a good start. There was an instant spark between Kellner and Ashe. Beck, on the other hand, was wary and a mite suspicious of Ashe’s charm; it eclipsed his own. Beck couldn’t help feeling that Ashe would have preferred to speak to Kellner alone. In this he was correct; Ashe had requested a head-to-head, but Kellner wanted the factual backup and didn’t want to have to repeat whatever might pass between himself and the Englishman. Unlike Beck, who was fond of admonishing others to ‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts’, Kellner was not unduly suspicious of Englishmen. If the Brits were the new Greeks and the Americans the new Romans, that was fine; roots mattered.
Kellner had intended to get the ball rolling by explaining the concerns the US had about sharing intelligence with the British. Doubts about British security went at least as far back as the catastrophic disclosures of Burgess, Philby and co. Furthermore, there were voluble US critics who saw Great Britain as hampered by human-rights legislation, a soft-option hang-out for jihadists and anti-Americanism. However, one look at Ashe’s smile and knowing eyes, together with the thought of his old friend Ran Crayke, told Kellner that Ashe knew all this anyway and they might as well put at least some of their cards on the table and cut to the chase.
Ashe very quickly realised the CIA was up a gum tree regarding al-Qasr. Not only had they physically lost him, but on weighing up the expense of all those years in California, they had to accept they had not got a great deal out of him, perhaps because never having grasped fully what he was capable of, they never had a straight deal in the first place.
It was soon clear that the British and Americans had been coming at the al-Qasr problem from opposite directions. In view of this, it made sense to complement each other’s work, if possible. Ashe produced his expurgated copies of files on both al-Qasrs, father and son, while Beck produced the late Leanne Gresham’s expurgated file on al-Qasr’s work at RIBOTech. As Ashe began to grasp the dimensions of al-Qasr’s role in advanced weapons research, the conversation hotted up considerably.
Kellner was fascinated by the idea of a link between the Kartal Lodge bombing and the Tower attack, but couldn’t help feeling it was a red herring as far as capturing al-Qasr was concerned. However, when Ashe finally let Kellner in on intel regarding al-Qasr’s connection with Syrian terrorist Hafiz Razak, his eyes lit up. He and Beck could now see perfectly how al-Qasr had eluded their grip. Taken together with their own file on Razak, they could confirm Mati Fless’s warnings about al-Qasr’s links with Ansar al-Sunna. Even more significantly, they could now confirm the so-called ‘doctor’ messages they had been receiving through SIGINT on al-Qasr.
The bombshell for Beck and Kellner was when Ashe explained about Princess Laila’s desire to find her brother, the Yezidi doctor, and his companion, the Baba Sheykh, who for some reason were in danger, probably hiding in Germany. That set the bells a-ringing. Now al-Qasr’s appearance in Berlin just might add up. The CTC could get onto Germany’s secret service with some real meat.
Two bottles of Virginian Merlot later, Kellner was beginning to wonder how he was going to deal with Ashe. He would dearly have loved to sign him up on a full-time basis. That was not going to happen. He decided to put it directly.
‘Dr Ashe. What do you want from us?’
‘Apart from another glass of your excellent wine, I should like to come along as something like an observer on field operations in Europe connected with al-Qasr, Laila’s brother and the sheykh. I would assist you all I could, subject to my superior’s approval.’
‘An “observer” you say?’
‘Means I’ll pay my own fare.’
Kellner laughed and turned to Beck. ‘D’you think we can handle a deal like that, Beck?’
‘I’d say, sir, that it’s probably an offer we should not refuse. Dr Ashe clearly comes with the confidence of involved persons who could be of great use to us. This doctor guy, for one. Ashe can use familiarity with his sister as bait. I’d like to speak to him as soon as possible.’
‘Just a minute, Sherman. I don’t like the sound of that word “bait”. I couldn’t cooperate with Laila’s brother being led into an “extraordinary rendition” scenario. I want his safety guaranteed.’
‘I said I’d like to speak to the doctor, Toby, not torture him.’
‘So long as that’s understood.’
Kellner saw the need for a little mollification. ‘OK, guys. I think we all understand one another. Subject to conversation with our mutual friend in Baghdad, Dr Ashe, I think we can join hands in amity on this one.’
‘So mote it be, Lee!’
‘So mote it be, Toby! Welcome to the United States!’
Kellner, Ashe and Beck shook hands.
Kellner turned to Beck. ‘And now, Sherman, I hope you don’t mind if I accept Dr Ashe’s very kind offer of dinner at his place – to toast the Queen you understand.’